UC San Francisco workers to strike

A strike by some workers at UC San Francisco, one of The City’s largest employers, could disrupt business at the hospital and university.

More than 3,000 unionized patient-care and service workers at UCSF went on a one-day strike at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday as part of a system-wide, said Todd Stenhouse, an AFSCME representative. The union says it is protesting unfair labor practices, including safety issues and intimidation.

The strike is one of several across the state at facilities were the roughly 22,000 American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees members work.

The California Nurses Association voted to strike in solidarity, but the union and university reached a tentative agreement last weekend on a four-year contract, which included a no-strike clause, according to union and university officials.

“This is the second time in seven months that AFSCME leadership has asked its members to strike, putting patient care at the heart of a labor dispute. We are very disappointed that the union is using our patients as bargaining chips. A strike will cause significant disruption to UCSF operations, but it is our patients who would be hurt the most.”